Sony Ericsson W580i Review

Look and feel

It feels quite solid but the battery cover is prone to the odd creak while the soft keys are overly spongy. On the upside, the slider action is reassuringly sturdy and it opens with a snap to reveal what looks to be a cramped keypad. But, don’t fret because the arrangement is surprisingly thumb-friendly.

Features

With the built-in pedometer, runners can track distance, average speed and time while the monitor is on default to automatically count your walking steps, and can even calculate the calories you burn. The Walkman Player supports album art, a five mode equaliser including Mega Bass and Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP). Other Walkman standards include Sony Ericsson’s TrackID music recognition service, RSS feed capabilities, and links to the newly expanded PlayNow full track download shop. Plus you get 3D gaming and a great web browser that smart-fits web pages for the small screen. One disappointment is EDGE instead of 3G download speeds. If you rely on your quality headphones, a 3.5mm adapter is also bundled. Also supplied is a 512MB Memory Stick Micro that holds about 125 average quality MP3 tunes, so you will obviously need to invest in a larger card to considerably boost capacity to Nano-size.

Performance

The W580i harbours a standard mid-range two-megapixel snapper, woefully deprived of autofocus, Macro focus for close-ups, and any type of flash. You can muck around with white balance, shoots modes and effects, but it won’t mask the average picture quality blighted by soft focus around the fringes. Similarly video capture shoots in a judder-tastic but YouTube fit 176x144 pixel resolution.

Ease of use

A very easy to use phone and the Walkman player is fun. The five-way navigation pad controls the player when in Walkman mode but the addition of motion sensors allows you to skip tracks with an abrupt flick of your wrist. Having to keep the front Walkman button pressed before shaking is a hassle, and we found it was just as quick to use the normal controls to change tunes.

Battery life

The Walkman W580i is another juice-tastic handset from Sony Ericsson.